Detailed Verizon Fios Review + The Best Fios Promotions and Discounts

Verizon Fios is a high speed internet, digital TV, and home phone service offered by Verizon. Their service is based on fiber optics instead of traditional copper connections for increased speeds. Users seem to want the discounts more than the review, so the review is after the discounts.

Fios TV + Internet + $74.99/mo

This package is great if you use your cell phone as your primary phone and want super fast internet + digital TV. Overall this price is great. You'll pay a little more for DVR/Set boxes, but the bundle promo discount helps offset the cost and is available with no long term contract.

Fios TV, Phone, and Internet - $79.99/mo

This Geek's Verizon Fios Review

So here is the deal, I got Fios TV and Internet installed last week at my house in Hoboken and let me tell you -- I love it.

In short, I like Fios over my old provider (Comcast) on every important tech metric including, Internet Speed, Internet Reliability, Digital TV picture quality, and selection of on demand programming.

After reading more about the difference of technology, between cable/dsl and fiber optics, it's no wonder Fios is better.

To put it simply, cable/DSL companies use older copper based technology to transmit their signals. Fios on the other hand is built on fully fiber optic network, and as you can imagine, this new technology blows copper technology away.

To put it this is way, do you still use your old Apple II from the 1980s? I don't think so, so why use an ancient internet technology?

Fiber Optic vs Cable/DSL - A History

First and foremost, if your home is wired for Fios (you can see if it is on this page), then you should definitely look at moving to this new fiber optic based service -- but only after you finish this review.

Now without getting too technical, let's compare, DSL, cable, and fiber optic technologies in a way most people can easy understand -- their age.

As with most things computer related, newer is better. This same rule applies to internet speeds as well.

Below is a quick table of when each type of technology came onto the market

DSL vs Cable vs Fiber Optics

DSL - First deployed in 1984.

DOCSIS (Cable) - First deployed in 1997.

Fiber Optic - First deployed in 2006(ish)

As you can see, Fiber is the newest which is why it is hands down the fastest.

Sure, we could get into technical details about the difference between DOCSIS 3.0 and fiber, but unless you are as much of a geek as I am, it's not worth it.

Choosing a Provider - What the FCC Data Recommends

Now I could go on and on about how great Fios is and why I love it, but let me share with why Fios blows the competition out of the water... backed by some FCC data.

Back a couple years ago, the Federal Trade Commission released a report that Cable companies don't want you to know about. (Read the full report here)

In the report they tested each of the major internet providers based on a few metrics -- but most importantly was their advertised speed vs actual speed. Check out this chart:

Now to put this chart simply, Verizon Fios is one of the only internet provider in the country who's customers actually get what they are paying for.

While other providers such as Time Warner Cable and Cablevision are promising their customers amazing speeds, they just aren't delivering them.

The Geek's Verdict - Verizon Fios Delivers

Download Speed vs Advertised

Provider

Actual Speed

Rank

Verizon Fios

112.6%

1

Comcast

97.8%

2

Time Warner

94.3%

3

Charter

92.2%

4

AT&T

85.2%

5

Cox

83.4%

6

Verizon DSL

76.3%

7

Cablevision

59.6%

8

After even more research I stumbled across and compiled this table of data based on the FTC report. This table shows actual download speed vs advertised download speed during peak time, also known as when everyone gets off of work.

Since I work from 9-5pm, it is really important to me that my internet works when I get home, so this data sealed the deal for me.

So there you have it... Ladies and gentlemen, the verdict is in, I wholeheartedly recommend Verizon Fios to anyone looking for blazing fast internet and solid Digital TV.

From an objective point of view, I haven't reviewed their customer service because getting setup with Fios was easy and I haven't had problems since.

That said, If you know someone who is shopping for digital tv/internet, send them this review and do them a favor. They will thank you later.

2014 Update: Fios Is Still the Best

Now that this review is almost 3 years old, I figured it was time to update it and share my experience thus far.

Overall Review: 4.5/5

Since initially getting Fios installed, I'm happy to report I've had very few problems. The only thing that has happened is our internet was out for about 2 days after a bad storm knocked out the powerlines in front of our house. That said, we didn't have power either, so it didn't really matter.

Besides that, things have been great. My wife and kids love their on demand section on Fios Quantum and I adore the fiber optic internet speeds.

Just recently Fios announced that they would be doubling the upload speeds of their plans. This is a huge win for me as I work from home and play online games a lot, so upload speeds really impact me. You can read more about this move on Ars Technica.

2015 Update: How Fios Compares 3 years later.

Over the past few years, other companies in our area have really stepped up their game with regards to speeds.

I've been a loyal believer in Fios but each each week my wife has been pulling "deal fliers" in the mail, so I decided it was time to see if I could do better on my rate.

With one simple call, Fios got my rate reduced to the "new customer" rate. Overall even after shopping fixed wireless providers in my area, I found that Verizon Fios was still the best value for the money.

Since the install, I had one "questionable" call with a Fios rep when our internet went out, but since then things have been going well.

About Geek Condition

Hi, my name is Ray D. and I run Geek Condition. I've been a long time Geek so I'm the guy that all my friends turn to when they have a technical question. Feel free to shoot me a message via the contact form. I hope you find my reviews and tutorials useful.